2012-2013

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Soundings

Sara Mast

sounding noun      1 : a measurement of depth especially with sounding line b. the depth so ascertained2 : measurement of atmospheric conditions at various heights3 : a probe, test, or sampling of opinion or intention I was fifteen. I was called home from my summer job as a camp counselor because my father was ill. When I entered the house, he was sitting at the kitchen table. He was not happy to see me. I don't believe he recognized me at all. He had a brain tumor. The person who was the anchor of my life was already gone, though his body remained. In three months, his body would follow his mind. That loss shaped me, and it's echo has resounded in my heart for forty years. This exhibition explores and measures the echoes and depth of familial bonds in myself and, perhaps, in all of us. 'Soundings' is a collaborative, multimedia project that explores the construction of shared identity within four generations of my own family, through the lens of my father's legacy. Gifford Morrison Mast (1914-1972) was an early pioneer of American industrial design, an inventor, a physicist, and an optics expert with a particular interest in stereo optics. By launching this experimental show in the living laboratory of a creative family, I am investigating the subtle forces that shape who we become by the stories that we tell and the memories that we keep. The show contains contributions from all four generations including my father and mother. Each third and fourth generation collaborator in this show has taken soundings through various means to discover who their grandfather and great grandfather was, never having met him. In my case, my paintings use my father's US patent images to take soundings in the form of a visual dialogue I am now able to have with him as an adult, through my own creative work. I am using the drawings of his inventions and his own handwriting as a probe of the imaginal (as opposed to imaginary) realm that still connects us. By uniting art and technology in an interdisciplinary collaboration with members of my biological family, I am attempting to 'measure the immeasurable,' which was a passion for my father. In a paper he wrote at the University of Chicago (circa 1932) titled 'The Meaning of Beauty,' he stated: “With the tools furnished by these scientific emotion measurers [electrocardiographs, lie detectors, brain wave recorders, etc.], it would seem likely that we might be able experimentally to outline the physiological aspects of aesthetic response.” One aspect of this show will be the use of a biofeedback instrument, in the form of an iPhone app, that measures heart rate variability (HRV), or 'heart coherence.' This term was originally coined by Dan Winter, our science advisor on this project. As Ary Goldberger of Harvard University states: "The heartbeat is one of the most complex signals in nature." What Goldberger and his colleagues have discovered is that the concept of homeostasis—the idea that organisms strive to maintain an ideal steady state—is untrue. Instead, his research indicates that organisms strive to maintain an adaptive variability rather than get locked into one mode of behavior. Viewers may experience a projection of their own HRV in an interactive, collaborative work entitled 'Mapping Love,' allowing the visual sounding of the viewer's own heart coherence to bring to light his/her own familial stories and memories. This project would not have been possible without my collaborators. Roderic Mast, my brother, was instrumental in bringing this project to completion and I am truly grateful for his participation in every aspect. Without his two sons, Morrison and Terrill, this exhibition could not exist as you see it. Morrison's technological savvy and organizational support were indispensable, and Terrill's non-stop creativity fueled this project from the start. Eric, Jr. and Emily are children of my brother Eric. Eric, Jr.'s weeklong collaboration with me at Ucross birthed the project ideas, and he produced the video 'Progeny,' which explores how stereo optics allows one to see everyday objects as completely new. Emily's piece is comprised almost entirely of her grandfather's own words as found in personal letters and documents, as well as from interviews with her father and grandmother. Kassandra is the granddaughter of my brother Gifford, Jr. Her excitement about collaborating with her great grandfather, through combining her engineering notes with his US patent images, was infectious. She was a joy to work with. My brothers, Gifford, Jr., and Eric, generously lent four of my father's inventions —the Mast Teaching Machine, the SVE projector, the Tru-Vue stereoscope and the dot counter —from their collections. By investigating the influence of my father on three generations, the invisible is made visible, and the connective threads that weave their way through all families are illuminated. Much of what would have remained hidden in one family's collective unconscious is being brought into view to ponder and engage as aspects of our own creative lives. What was once a loss becomes a gain, and a wound becomes a gift. [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]